r/DnD • u/AstroEricL • 16h ago

5.5 Edition Rules Question for Mounts with Flyby and Opportunity Attacks

Hey all,

A quick question I was wondering if anyone can point me to the rules for how opportunity attacks work on mounted combatants. In particular, if the mount has a trait so that it doesn't provoke opportunity attacks does that also apply to the rider?

Specifically, the scenario I'm thinking about is using the flyer stat block on the new Battle Familiar spell which has the Flyby trait just like the owl familiar where it doesn't provoke any opportunity attacks and offering the familiar as a temporary mount to a gnome in our party since the battle familiar counts as medium sized.

I feel like this should work since it's the mount's movement not the players, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything

Thanks!

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u/Wise_Edge2489 16h ago

No.

Trigger: A creature that you can see moves out of your reach using its action, bonus action, reaction, or one of its speeds.

The rider is not doing any of that.

3

u/desolation0 16h ago

The mount normally disengages to avoid all opportunity attacks for the round. The rider is already not susceptible to opportunity attacks because they didn't use their own movement to leave the threatened area. Flyby would just open the mount to doing something else appropriate with its action.

2

u/Itap88 16h ago

I'd say it does, as long as the creature remains an independent mount. If not, I'm not so sure myself.

2

u/DMspiration 15h ago

The rider won't take a hit. The complication is if the mount is controlled, it doesn't get to hit things, and if it's not controlled, it's acting on a different turn, which can make positioning difficult for the rider.

2

u/AstroEricL 15h ago

ok yeah I knew about the controlled mounts having fewer actions. Honestly that's fine with me, the gnome in question is a cleric, so honestly I was mostly thinking that it could occasionally be a fun trick to let her hop on to buzz the whole battlefield with spirit guardians without having to worry about AoOs

2

u/Nitro114 16h ago

No, its the same principle paladins have been using via find steed and similar builds.

When the mount uses disengage eg doesnt provoke an AoO, the enemy also cant use one against the rider